The Next Leg of the Journey

 Wednesday 13th, April 2022

Mangosteen - tropical delights for breakfast.

Duncan and Robin head off for golf at the Mount Coolum golf course while Chris and I do the clearing up and packing. It is quite strange being in their house, although they do have quite a bit of new art, every now and then there is the familiar sight of one of Phyl's paintings.

Try and get it in the Joey's pouch, Dunc!

The trip back to Brisbane is about 2 hours - they seem to do it on a regular basis. Yoshi is left for a couple of days there on his own, and if necessary Phoebe pops in and tops up his feeding bowl.

That night we go to an Italian restaurant back in Brisbane. It is quite a rustic affair, where I have a locally made soft cheese with nectarines and heritage tomatoes, and Duncan and Robin have a pasta with lamb ragout.

The walls have the old family photos. 

Chris's mother's family is of Italian descent, so he fits in very well!

Next day we are heading off to Newcastle, so we have a leisurely breakfast of freshly made French pastries from the bakery down the road - real french people running it too!

Once we arrive in Newcastle we are taken by Simon to Crowne Plaza in the Hunter Valley. This was saved as a surprise for Clauds and Theo. They were sat down and told at breakfast that they should go and pack their bags. Huge excitement... but then the sudden realisation that they had tidied there rooms especially for Gran and Grandad's visit. Much reassurance that they would stay tidy while the kids were away.

Together again!!

 Claudia was quick to show off her cartwheel skills.

The highlight of the night was ordering room service. Well not so much for us, but the kids loved it!

We are staying in a 3 bedroom apartment, with a lounge, kitchen and 2 bathrooms.  there is some outside area for play and it is a short walk to the restaurant and pool/games area. I'm not sure who was asleep first - the kids or the grandparents!!

Varroom to Yaroomba

 Monday 11th April 2022

A relaxed start to the day, then a drive around the local district, lots of lovely shops nearby and a small mall and supermarket. Chris has a specialist appointment early afternoon, so we take off with Robin to Yaroomba where Chris and Robin have thoroughly modernised a house up there which is nearer to Phoebe and Shannon and Otis in Coolum, and Nick, Michelle, and girls in Malleny. It is about 2hours up the Sunshine Coast.

We are greeted by Yoshi.

Robin and Chris spend a lot of time moving between their two properties, and Yoshi usually goes too, but they had left him on his own overnight while they picked us up. Seemed to enjoy being in charge of the bed!

We are immediately impressed by the highly specialised grass. It is very soft and spongy and only requires mowing four times a year!

Chris arrives and we go for a walk down by the beach. On the way we stop to chat to a neighbour who has had his driveway graffitied. He, apparently, is a bit of a redneck, but we were quite curious  by the neat spraypainting and the use of an apostrophe. (incorrectly). There is quite a lot of local politics in the area, especially to stop the place being dotted with high-rise.

The sea looks gorgeous, but is extremely wild.

Top of the rise. Lots of plaques to people who have had their ashes scattered off here.

Very large waves breaking at angles to one another

Looking North

South to Brisbane

Then its off to dinner in Peregian at a lovely restaurant called Periwinkle.

The other three enjoy the duck meal.

On the way we see a spectacular sunset through the new sapling gums which are growing up after fires. This isn't a very good photo of what we saw - but it is a very moody shot.

Tuesday 12th April 2022

Robin's loving having her fit brother to stay, and drags him out on the cycle in the morning.

This is Family Day, and Phoebe, Shannon and Otis arrive in the morning.

Otis is as delightful in person as he has been in photos. Heaps of smiles.

They will return for pizza later in the afternoon. We head off for  a drive and a lunch at Noosaville. Phoebe is still keen to get married, so we imagine all sorts of places might be suitable on our way.

? Wedding? at Noosaville

Chris is handmaking the bases for pizza which he will cook in the pizza oven. They are lovely.

Meanwhile, Nick and Michelle and the girls arrive and some of us go for a swim in their pool. Otis enjoys some time in there with me.

Bonnie and Freya don't have TV at home.

Just time for the group shot with Nick, Michelle, Bonnie and Freya, before the parents pop off to the pub for a gig.

Overseas Travel - but not as we know it

 Saturday 9th April 2022

After a fraught couple of days trying to confirm bookings, it finally looked like we were on our way - a day early, so we could make the Brisbane connection. Alice kindly picked us up and dropped us at the airport late afternoon. We got the shuttle to the Heartland Hotel for the night.

On our way

Sunday 10th April, 2022

Pretty good flight to Brisbane but we made the mistake of having a good breakfast at the Koru Lounge, and then were served another breakfast on the plane. Unfortunately our excitement on landing was curtailed  as they couldn't make the airbridge work and we had to tootle along the runway to the next gate.

Along the runway

All the forms and downloads we had completed in NZ for Australia were totally ignored and we had to fill out the Australian paperwork again. We were very pleased to get through, and were whisked away to Robin and Chris's apartment - which we hadn't seen before. It is on the 2nd floor of an apartment block in New Farm in the city. One side overlooks a small reserve with a magnificent old tree, and the other side has some interesting old buildings.

We settle in and take a walk down to the Howard Smith Wharves, where there are outdoor bars, live music and a carnival atmosphere.

Asked a young man to take this shot!

The guys try some craft beers

We have prosecco.

At the back of this area are some bunkers which were used during the second world war.

Fortunately there is a lift up from the Wharves to New Farm!!

The bunkers were air-raid shelters, because the Howard Smith Wharves were the base for many American Navy vessels which they thought would make them a target for the Japanese Airforce.

We head back to the apartment for Lasagne and some good wine.

The Godwits fly North in the Winter

 The grass is always greener on the other side. All those old sayings  - meant that when we were forecast to have very wet conditions for a week in Gisborne, we hitched up the caravan and headed over to Ohiwa. I was trying to get pictures of the flooding etc on our way out, but it wasn't very spectacular. Once we got over Traffords Hill and into the gorge it looked very tame.

Reckon you could still fly fish in this

As each tributary joined it got a little bit murkier

Small waterfall

OK, down by Tauranga Bridge it might not have been to pleasant doing the bit where you had to hold the wire.

It doesn't take us long to get the caravan set up on T12 and get the BBQ going.

It's a lovely evening and much warmer than we had expected

We sat our for ages outside watching the sky.

And then it was inside to play scrabble. I won, due to getting Zulu on a double letter score, and triple word score (69) but Duncan got me back the next night with Dinners as his opening word, using all his letters (68).

The next day we took it pretty easy, I really enjoyed my swim, Duncan went for a run along the beach, and a cycle ride, and we went for a walk, read and relaxed.

A very serene sky.

Sunday we were up bright and early to go to Katikati to see Harbourside Macadamias. They also do kiwifruit and Avocadoes, but very helpful to run some ideas past Wyn. Then onto Paul and Chris Edginton in Katikati for lunch. Paul was an optometrist from Duncan's year, but has had a long battle  with muscular dystrophy. They are good friends with John and Bev Watt - who have decided to move to Christchurch! as they are finding the infrastructure in Tauranga so chaotic. It was quite a long drive, but we felt it was worthwhile.

Monday was another easy day, but we went along for a walk up the road, and read the historic boards.

The estuary has changed a lot, with shifting sands, and when it got too shallow near the wharf, they used to just drop the cows into the water using a sling, and they were expected to swim ashore!!! I've heard of horses doing a bit of swimming, but not cows!!

Thunderous skies down to East Cape

Looking towards E Block

And another lovely sunset for us.

Next day it was an uneventful trip home.

A bit boggy by the Waipaoa River